As residents of Surrey and Vancouver brace for double-digit property tax increases, the District of West Vancouver has moved to deliver a lower than expected tax hike.
Council was expected to deliver a tax increase of 6.07 per cent, which has now been cut to 4.15 per cent.
“As much as we like to believe we’re all well-heeled here in West Vancouver, there’s a lot of people who would be really impacted by a big tax hike again along with the other burdens of inflation,” Coun. Sharon Thompson said.
“The feeling to keep the tax rate low really came from the added burdens of inflation that we’re seeing, and our utility rates are going through the roof.”
Last week, Vancouver city council approved a 10.7-per cent tax increase, much of it earmarked for funding increases to the Vancouver Police Department.
Policing has similarly weighed heavily on the City of Surrey’s budget. Council had been set to introduce a whopping 17.5-per cent tax increase there, more than half of it dedicated to reversing the city’s transition to a municipal police force.
After Mayor Brenda Locke said Tuesday that the city could potentially shave five points off that increase because it had secured nearly $90 million in provincial infrastructure, council voted to send the budget back to staff. It’s believed the city will now deliver a tax hike of about 12.5 per cent.
Those figures stand in contrast to Port Coquitlam, which has managed to keep its property tax hike this year to 3.3 per cent.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation told Global News cities need to find a way to rein spending in, amid the surging cost of living.
“When folks are going hungry it’s not the time to be padding bureaucratic salaries and investing in huge capital projects,” CTF B.C. director Carson Binda said.
“We need to see bureaucrats in Surrey and council in Surrey taking a page out of West Vancouver and Port Coquitlam’s books and coming back to taxpayers with more reasonable and realistic asks.”
The latest figures peg January inflation up 6.2 per cent year-over-year in B.C., with food up 10.2 per cent, transportation up 6.8 per cent and shelter up 6.7 per cent.
Surrey city council needs to vote on a final budget by mid-May.
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